


The Show Must Go On

by Merlins_Lancelot



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Aftermath of Violence, F/M, Heterosexual Sex, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 16:03:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17511656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merlins_Lancelot/pseuds/Merlins_Lancelot
Summary: After the professional success of BoRhap and some personal disasters, the boys are looking for a way to celebrate Freddie's birthday together. Along the way they meet The Killer Queens and Taylor Swift, and realize that Brian and Roger still have tricks up their sleeve.





	1. Prologue: All The Bricks They Threw At Me

_ Our Different Scarlet Letters  _

 

“What will it be boys?” Rami asked cheerfully, smiling broadly at Joe. His friend returns the smile, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes like it should. The blonde young man on Joe’s other side winces and puts his head in his hands. 

“Coffee. Or something. And please for the love of god, keep it down,” he begged in a low groan. 

“Cheer up, Benny,” Rami said, encouragingly.

“Shut up,” Ben grumbled. Joe put a reassuring hand on Ben’s muscular but currently very clammy arm. 

“How hungover are you?” Joe asked quietly, once Rami had gone inside to order them drinks. 

“Very,” Ben whispered, clinging to Joe for dear life. “Been out or up alone by myself every night since Abby left.” 

“Ben, that’s two weeks. That’s not healthy,” Joe said, the concern for his friend breaking through the supportive exterior. “Do you think you can stop?” 

“Who knows,” Ben sighed, wiping his damp eyes without taking off his glasses. 

“Stop what?” A tired voice asks, casting shade over the morose pair. 

“Been partying too much, Gwil,” Ben confessed to his friend, knowing without looking up that the shade his eyes had been begging for was cast by the late arrival of his tall friend. “But I’ve got it. Gonna hang out with you guys tonight instead, to stop Joey from worrying too much,” he flashed a smile at both of them. 

“Rami’s Inside,” Joe explained when Gwil gestured to the empty seat to Joe’s left. 

“Gotcha,”Gwil said, lowering his exhausted frame into the chair to Ben’s right. “How are you Joe?” He asked gently. Joe sighed heavily,

“Day by day man. Day by day. Thanks for asking though. How have you been with… you know?” Joe asked, vaguely, as though he was afraid of the answer. 

“Well, you all know Katie left,” Gwil said slowly. Ben looked up at him from the death slouch he had bent himself into.

“Fucken awful man, I was sorry to hear about it,” he said, still sounding like he had a stomach ache. 

“Yeah well. She didn’t leave,” Gwil started, but Rami showed up with a full drink holder and a bag of pastries. 

“Dig in boys, lattes for all, and all the sugary carbs I could get my hands on,” Rami announced dramatically, sounding for all the world like Freddie again. 

“Thanks mate,” Ben croaked, chugging down most of his coffee in one go. “Gwil, what were you saying?”

“Nothing, man,” Gwil waved it off, sipping his latte with such concentration that Joe could tell he definitely wanted to avoid the subject. 

“No, what?” Joe demanded, as softly as possible. “She didn’t leave?”

“What?” Rami asked, suddenly snapping back in to himself. “What happened then?” 

“I left her. Grabbed all my stuff, I’m staying a ways away, I just couldn’t do it anymore you know?” He explained, and Rami frowned.

“Couldn’t do what?” He asked, and Ben, now possessing more energy, patted his back reassuringly. 

“She cheat?” He asked, sympathetically. Joe smacked him on the chest, and a Ben glared at him, neither of them catching Gwil wince when Joe’s hand made contact with Ben’s body. 

“Your experiences are not universal,” Joe stated emphatically and Ben playfully nudged his friend.

“Yeah, I know.” 

“Gwil,” Rami said, snapping the man’s attention away from the spot on Ben’s left pectoral Where Joe’s hand had landed firmly. “What happened?” 

“She was just a lot, but I wanted you guys to know where I was staying. Only reason I said anything. I’m fine,” he said, with an unconvincing smile. They continued with their breakfast, chatting over pastries about their future projects and plans. 

“You know Freddie’s birthday is coming up?” Rami said, fiddling with his cup.

“Yeah, I know. We’re still gonna be together for that right?” Ben asked, sounding hopeful. 

“Absolutely,” Joe agreed. “I’m not spending it with anyone else.” 

“Well, what if we did a concert or something?” Rami asked. 

“How would we pull that off?” Gwil countered, and Rami shrugged.

“Social capital? Brian and Roger?” He suggested. “I think we should do it.”

“Alright, let’s say for one second that we do this. I think we ought to figure out who’s performing and where we’re doing this before we involve any members of Queen,” Ben said reasonably. It was not hard to get the other three to agree to that. 

“There’s a few concerts happening in New York next week, and we’re all gonna be close to London for at least another week, right?” Joe asked, and Gwil nodded. Rami confirmed he was staying and Ben was happy to have them close by. “Okay, so let’s do some recon. We can just. Keep it in our minds and see if it’s possible. No need to dismiss it just because, right?” He asked, encouragingly. Ben and Gwil agreed half heartedly, and Rami beamed at him. 

“I’ll do my best guys. I just don’t know if it’s the best time, but you know me. I’m all in,” Gwil sighed, absent-mindedly removing his sunglasses to scratch at the bridge of his nose. 

“Yeah, we know, Gwil, that’s why we love- WHOA!” Ben yelled out, interrupting his own train of thought in surprise. Gwil’s hand froze. He had forgotten that he was keeping the glasses on for a reason. Ben had seen which meant they had all seen the big black eye hiding behind the shades. 

“Guys,” he started, and Joe cut him off.

“She didn’t leave. You left,” he said hollowly. 

“I’ll kill her,” Ben said seriously, and Rami looked like a storm was brewing in his eyes.

“She…?” He gestured at the evidence, and Gwil nodded.

“Was up late, talking to Ben, she got jealous, as she so tended to do,” he explained. “Punched me square in the face. Got me in the jaw right after. It wasn’t the only time she’d gotten physical, but she had never close handed punched, you know? It felt different, I guess,” Gwil said, and he sounded so sad that Ben got up and hugged him. 

“You don’t have to do this man,” Rami said, and the guilt for pushing him is all over his face.

“Fuck that,” Ben said angrily. “Joe, you miss your dad. I miss the life I had with Abby, and Gwil. Gwil just told us he’s been in an abusive relationship.”

“I just realised it myself,” Gwil confessed, and Ben patted him fondly. 

“All the more reason. You know who’d cheer us up if he were here?” Ben continued.

“Freddie,” Joe said. 

“I think we should celebrate him,” Gwil agreed, and they all look at Rami.

“Don’t look at me, guys. Sure, it was my idea, but I’m the happy and healed and sane one around these parts, apparently. It’s up to you. Will this help your broken little hearts?” 

“Yeah,” Joe, Ben, and Gwil all said almost completely in sync. 

“Okay,”Rami said. “Let’s throw Freddie a party.” 

  
  


_ I'm just a singer with a song _ _   
_ _ How can I try to right the wrong? _

 

“Leta,” Sirona said softly, calling her friend back from gazing into space. The stage they were on was mostly full, choreographers all around trying to get everyone’s attention. Leta whirled around, startled by her friend’s voice. 

“Yeah, I’m here, sorry,” She said loudly, shaking herself. Sirona smiled sympathetically at her, while Minette just rested her head on her friend’s shoulder for a brief, sweet second. Then there was Taylor, who, upon seeing the whole thing, turned to the choreographer with hardened eyes and a rigid jaw, said,

“Can we do that whole thing? I missed that whole thing, I didn’t even get on the train as it left the station.” She sent a wink and a dazzling smile in Leta’s direction, and Leta once again felt a rush of gratitude and love for Taylor, and her girls. They took a break for water, and Leta rushed to go check her phone one more time, in the hopes that it would calm her nerves and help her focus if she had a much awaited voicemail waiting for her. This was everything she hoped for. She placed a hand on her stomach where her little girl should be growing, but now was not because of the man she had been stupid enough to love. 

Aware that eyes were on her, but unable to care at that moment, she sighed with relief as she saw a missed call from the hospital. She closed her eyes, said a prayer, and then pressed play on the message. 

 

Meanwhile, in the other side of the stage, Sirona, Minette, and Taylor watched her in worry. 

“Is this the day we’ve been basically waiting for?” Taylor asked, taking a long sip of water. Minette nodded.

“Yeah. This is the day.”

“God, she’s 25. Divorced. I wanna cry,” Taylor sighed sadly, and Sirona nodded. 

“They were so good together,” she whined, and Minette shot her a look. “Okay, or like, so we thought,” she hastily amended. 

“Okay, you know why she had to leave him though. He should be in jail,” Minette hissed, and Sirona looked at the ground.

“Yeah. That was really bad,” she whispered. 

“Is this the thing that-” Taylor started to ask, and Minette and Sirona both nodded emphatically and Taylor winced.

“Yikes.”

“Here she comes,” Sirona said, and they all resumed stretching, not nearly quickly enough for Leta to not catch them. They were concerned, so she let them off the hook. Her precious girls, the Killer Queens, were waiting for her, with patience and love, and their new friend, Taylor Swift of all people, was waiting with them. How did one girl get to be so lucky, and so fucked over, all in one go? There was no answer, and she honestly didn’t expect one. Thank god for these few shows with Taylor before they went off on their own again. She needed all the support and weight off her shoulders she could get. Hopefully now with the news she had to share, things would get a little easier. 

“It’s done,” she said, and then, almost too late for the girls to catch her, she crumpled. Minette got there first, then Sirona supported Minette before they could both topple over. 

“You did it, baby girl,” Sirona said softly. “You got rid of him.”

“Good riddance,” Leta mumbled, wiping her eyes, careful not to let her mascara come off too much. 

“What do you wanna do now?” Taylor asked once they’d broken apart and she could wrap her arms around Leta.

“Take it from the top of End Game,” she said, with a determined glint in her eye. “We need to nail this bitch.”

“Are you sure?” Taylor asked. “We can skip today,” she offered and Leta shook her head. 

“I just want to dance.”

“Then let’s dance,” Sirona said. 

 


	2. Chapter 1: Lights Down Low (No One Has To know)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first encounter, and Taylor is sneakier than the snakes on her jewellery

 

_She’s A Killer Queen_   
_Gunpowder, Gelatine_   
_Dynamite with a razor beam_   
_Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind_

“Is that who I think it is?” Sirona asked, pointing out toward the VIP boxes. Minette gasped, and Taylor’s jaw dropped. Leta froze where she was standing.   
“Hum. I think so?” Taylor said, squinting to see without being seen. “Let me ask the band.” She said a few words into her walkie- talkie, and awaited the response. When she got it, she met eyes with Minette, who instantly knew that they were right.   
“That, ladies,” Taylor said, triumphantly returning to the group, “is Joe Mazzello, Ben Hardy, Rami Malek, and Gwilym Lee.”  
“You saw the movie, right?” Sirona asked, and Taylor rolled her eyes.  
“Of course I did. I’m not an animal.”  
“That movie fixed me, I swear to god. When Freddie left Paul, I was like. Fuck this, I’m out,” Leta sighed heavily, rolling her shoulders to warm up. They were mostly out of sight; Minette knew that the Killer Queens were slightly visible to only a few audience locations, but what were they gonna do? The stage was a X shape, for god’s sake. The most important thing was to keep Taylor out of sight and they were certainly doing that.   
“They are so gorgeous,” Leta admitted, shaking herself. She was recently divorced. Sure she had been alone for a year now technically, but still. What the hell was she thinking?  
“It makes me so mad,” Sirona replied without missing a beat. Taylor narrowed her eyes at her three best friends and a plan formulated in her mind.  
“I’ll be right back,” she said and turned on her heel and ran before they could ask her what’s up.   
“Kenny!” She yelled to the stage manager, who set off at a jog to meet her.  
“Everything okay, Taylor?” He asked fondly, and she smiled.  
“Yeah just want to do something real quick. Do you still have the radio to talk to security?”  
“Yeah,” he said, a worried look on his face. “You need something?”  
“Get me the guard at VIP box 3,” she pleaded, and he rolled his eyes.  
“You’re sneaky. Of course, hang on.” He got on the radio, said some stuff she barely heard, and then handed it to her. “Here ya go.”  
“Hi, is this box 3?” She asked.  
“Yes,” a rough voice answered.   
“Hi box 3, this is Taylor!” She said brightly.   
“Hi Taylor, this is Gary.”  
“Hi! Can I possibly talk to one of the boys in the box? There should be 4 of them!” She asked boldly.   
“Sure!” He answered, and then there was silence for a moment.  
“Hello?” A deep British voice answered on the other side, and Taylor almost screamed with joy.   
“Hi, it’s Taylor. This is Ben right? I recognise your voice!”  
“Yeah its Ben. What...what’s up?” He laughed nervously. She giggled. He was to cute.  
“Can I shoutout to you boys during a song?” She asked.  
“YES!” 4 voices yelled out and she almost dropped the radio.  
“Yay! Thank you! Meet me in the backstage area after, alright? You’re officially invited.”  
“Thank you so much!” Said a voice, that was unmistakably Rami, over the radio.  
“I gotta go sing now! Bye Gorgeous!!” She said, then clicked off the radio. “Thanks Kenny. Make sure that they know where to go, okay?”   
“You got it boss,” he said. “Break a leg!”   
“Thank you!” She said cheerfully then skipped back to where her girls were waiting.   
“Where did you go?” Minette asked.  
“Nowhere,” Taylor said. “Oh, guys, during Gorgeous, I’m gonna do something, go with me okay?”   
“We’ll follow you anywhere, you this. Just nothing too crazy, alright?” Leta asked, and Taylor winked at her.   
“You won’t be mad at me I promise,” she said, and they all agreed. The lights went out and the recordings of awful things about Taylor played out for the crowd, and then her voice echoed “Reputation”, and then silence, and the Killer Queens clasped hands and walked out on stage to sing and dance like there was nothing else in the world to do.  
“Baby, let the games begin!”

 

_I see how this is gonna go_   
_Touch me and you’ll never be alone_   
_Island breeze, the lights down low_   
_No one has to know…._   
_(Are you ready for it?)_

_“_ Are we really doing this?” Gwil asked after they had handed over the radio again. “What are we doing here? Are we really going to ask Taylor Swift to perform at this thing?” He asked incredulously in an undertone. Joe turned to stare at him, eyebrows raised angrily.  
“You really need to not talk shit about Taylor right now,” he said, and Rami and Ben laughed.  
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Gwil conceded. “Seriously, what are we doing here, Joe?”  
“We’re here to see the dance group touring with her. You don’t even want to know what they are called, but it caught my attention. They aren’t even an opening act, they are just her dancers and singers for the tour. I actually found them on instagram,” Rami explained for Joe, who was looking simultaneously very excited to see Taylor Swift, and very put out with his friends.  
“Well we know that’s a lie. Joe found them and showed you,” Ben snorted, and Rami didn’t even bother to feign being offended.  
“That’s true, I’m never on the internet, am I?” Rami replied distractedly, looking around at the massive packed stadium.   
“Alright, I’m actually very interested to see this dance group, let’s just try to have fun alright?” Ben asked, placing a hand on Gwil’s shoulder.   
“Sounds good. I am rather looking forward to meeting her, actually. She’s darling to invite us,” Gwil admitted, and Joe nodded encouragingly.   
“There ya go,” he said, and then the lights went out. “Here we goooo!” He whispered excitedly. The recordings of the press bashing her played, with visual clips of her dancing and her music videos. Rami leaned in to say to the others,  
“That’s actually very Freddie, if you think about it,” and they all agreed. Her voice echoed out, reputation, reputation, reputation…. And then the dancers were on stage, and Rami and Joe both whisper screamed,  
“There they are!”   
There were lots of dancers on the stage, but Gwil and Ben knew exactly who they meant. The three girls in the center, clustered around someone (“three guesses who,” Ben muttered and Rami snorted), were partially shrouded in darkness, but they were absolutely electric to watch, even standing still.

Joe could swear, watching the girl on the far right, that he had never seen anyone so beautiful. None of the girls were abnormally stick thin, but that didn’t matter; he couldn’t see any other woman on the plant even if he tried right now. Her red hair flowed in a braid over her curves, and the way she posed made her skin glow in the faint light of the strobing smoke machine. The lights came on, Taylor began to sing, and the girls began to dance. Joe was mesmerised. She moved like there were only strings attached to her keeping her tied to the earth. Gravity had no affect on her lightness of movement, and a sassy but alluring smile remained on her face the whole time. There was a gentle air about her despite the speed and nearly violent determination with which she moved through the dance. She was so stunning, she nervously checked to see, with dismay, the other boys staring too. He knew he could never measure up to Ben, or Gwil, so his dreams of even asking her name would be over before they began. Still, it was nice to daydream about her while he watched her dance.

Unbeknownst to Joe, Ben was not watching the red haired beauty Joe was rapidly falling for. His gaze landed and stayed where the girl in the middle was. Her dark hair was so black it was almost blue as she twirled, spun, and bent her body to the tune of the music. He was absolutely entranced by her eyes, blue, from what he could tell, and alight with some ferocity that paired with her smile to say, do not fuck with me. She was pale, but in a way that made her look sturdy, like marble. Her waist was only slightly narrowed and her hips were wide, but inviting as she swivelled them on her way down to the ground, and he could have sworn all the air went out of his lungs when she dropped to her knees, and licked her lips. He could honestly say that she was not normally his type, but there was no denying that there was something electric about her, and knowing she was different from what he had been attracted to his whole dating life did not stop him from fantasising about how she would taste on his tongue, if she was prone to moans, screams, or tears, if she would ever grant him the honour of straddling his now watering mouth, and riding his face. He shifted his feet, flexing his thighs to distract himself. He almost saw red when he saw Gwil staring down at the stage, but he knew with all that Gwil had been through, he needed this more. He didn’t like it, but he would step aside.

Gwil, however, had forgotten what it was like to want someone, until this very moment. He thought his romantic life was over, at least until he could remember what was normal healthy couple behaviour, and not just what he had adjusted to with Katie over the 18 months they were together. But all thoughts of waiting and healing were thrown out the window when he saw her. She was the curviest of the group; he felt bad for thinking it, but it only added to his attraction to her. The fact that she was not Vogue’s idea of the perfect woman and was still dancing her heart out, in the tightest, most amazing pair of sequin leather pants he’d ever seen made him admire her all the more; not only for the quality of her figure, but the self ssurednes with which she inhabited the body she was born in. Seriously, he’d love to write the maker of those pants a thank you letter complete with chocolates and flowers. Perhaps flowers the color of her hair; her dark roots revealed that she was naturally a brunette, but the majority of her hair fell in soft pale purple waves that made her hazel eyes, pale skin, and full lips look even more amazing than he imagined they would if she was wearing no makeup, no hair dye, just her in her natural beauty, sighing on top of him, her hands up in his hair. He knew he shouldn’t picture her like that; she was fascinating on her own. When she danced she owned the stage, even in spite of dancing next to Taylor Swift of all people. She moved like she was shaking chains off of herself, and smiled a serene smile. Every step was freeing her. She looked completely, totally, unabashedly happy, and it made Gwil think of how soft her touch would be, how gently she’d care for him. Although he had been forced to admit that he was a bad judge of things recently, he truly couldn’t picture this angel with the most beautiful face on earth, and most inviting, ample chest he’d ever seen, trying to hurt him. He knew right then and there that they were going to that party after the show. He had to at least know her name.

Rami watched the whole thing with an amused expression; he could see that the boys were enchanted with the dancers, and that they were terrified at the thought that any of the others world have their sights on the same one. He observed with no shortage of amusement that their eyes were each zeroed in on a different girl. His gaze wandered to the girl singing her heart out, who had extended an invite to them all. If he was going to pull this off, he needed his Lucy, and that beautiful, sneaky, trickster with the voice of an angel working her ass off on that stage. He knew this could work, he just had to make it happen. His best friends had been through so much in their own way, and they deserved the world.

  
_I'm caught in a dream_   
_And my dream's come true_   
_So hard to believe_   
_This is happening to me_

The stage went dark after End Game and Taylor called the girls to her.  
“Remember, I’m gonna introduce the dancers during Gorgeous, and you just follow my lead, okay loves?” She reminded them, and they nodded, anticipation for what she had planned for them making them shiver slightly. She stepped back out on stage and began her speech before Gorgeous, while the girls just danced in place for awhile. The song began to play, and they went seamlessly through their choreography, until Taylor stopped singing to introduce the dancers over the sound of the music. She saved her girls for last, and she gestured for them to join her in the Center of the X stage.  
“And I’m so happy to introduce to you my favourite dance group backing me up for the next few nights. The fiercest group around, I give you Sirona!” Joe’s heart skipped when the red haired Center of his whole world stepped forward and posed. “Minette!” The black haired beauty danced forward and slid on her knees before twirling back up to standing in a sexy pose, and Ben felt his whole body move forward magnetically toward her, but jerked back before he could actually dive off their balcony on to the stage to join her. “And Leta!” Taylor announced, and the violet haired girl swung her hips down to the ground, dipped, and flipped her hair back, throwing her arms above her head in a burlesque pose to rival Dita Von Tease.   
“Leta,” Gwil sighed under his breath.   
“Together, they are The Killer Queens! Give them a round of applause, New York!” Taylor said with a million watt smile. “They got their name from a song, I don’t know if you guys know it…” She shrugged playfully and the crowd went nuts. “And it just so happens, that we have some people who really love this song with us tonight. I want to welcome The Boys of Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami, Ben, Joe, and Gwilym! Welcome to the Reputation tour, boys!” A spotlight shown on to their box, and they all waved, then blew kisses to the dancers. They had expected a shoutout, not a spotlight, but they knew how to roll with it. The four girls (Taylor and the Queens) waved back, and Taylor waited for the crowd to stop screaming. The girls couldn’t keep their eyes off the boys; Leta saw Gwil and was struck by his obvious good looks; he was tall, with hair that looked soft to the touch and skin that looked like it would feel so good against hers. She knew he was probably staring at Sirona, but she allowed herself to hope, despite knowing she shouldn’t even be looking for something new right now. Minette couldn’t stop looking at Ben, his beauty warming her like the sun even from a distance. Sirona couldn’t keep her eyes off the man who played John Deacon. She had seen the movie and thought he was gorgeous since the second she saw him, and now he was here. She allowed herself to believe for a split second that he was looking at her. The girls kept dancing and Taylor winked at Minette. “We are so happy you guys could be here, and we wanna let you know that this song is all for you, from me and The Killer Queens!” She said proudly, and began to sing again… “You’re so gorgeous! I can’t say anything to your face,” they all sang, barely taking their eyes off the boys.   
Meanwhile, on the balcony, the guys all agreed they’d definitely be accepting the offer to go backstage, and meeting the girls, excited for what the night had in store. They blissfully sang along, with no idea what was ahead of them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment with suggestions or anything else!

**Author's Note:**

> ConCrit welcome! Hope you like it!


End file.
